


Essays on the History of Arnor (Fanon and AU))

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: General, Multi-Age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2003-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-23 08:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3761939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A reconstruction of the history of the Northern Kingdom. Warning! speculation, fanon and some out and out AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Overview of the History of Arnor

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

  
There are many misconceptions about the history of  
the Northern Kingdom, due in part to the Gondorian  
bias of most of the surviving sources but also to  
deliberate misinformation put out by the Dunedain  
during their centuries of hiding.

The Founding of the Realms:

The Realms in Exile began as colonies of Faithful  
fleeing from the persecution of the Kings of Numenor.  
Many chose to go north to Ost-en-Dunhirion (Citadel  
of the Lords of the West), built by Tar-Ciryatan on  
the gulf of Lune beneath the Tower Hills. The  
Numenoreans settled the lands between the Baranduin  
and the Southern Ered Luin which became known as  
Dor-en-Dunhirion, Land of the Lords of the West, and  
on the east bank of the River Lune.

The lands east of the Baranduin, as far as the  
Weather Hills, were occupied by Men closely akin to  
the Numenoreans, being like them descended from the  
First and Third Houses of the Edain. The Elves and  
the Dunedain called this land Arthedain, the Realm of  
the Edain, and its people the Runedain or Men of the  
East. But their realm was not a single kingdom but a  
heptarchy of principalities together with a number of  
smaller lordships. Chief of which was Nethorian, the  
Midlands, whose princes were descended from Turin  
Turambar.

And farther east, isolated from their Dunedain kin  
by the the rolling plains of Rhudaur, was the land  
of Egladil in the Angle between the Mitheithel and the  
Bruinen rivers, settled by the Sorondili, a princely  
Numenorean House, and their followers who had followed  
the Great Eagles, whose friends they were, when they  
abandoned Numenor at Sauron's coming.

The Runedain and the Exiles were on terms of close  
friendship and there was much commerce and intermarriage  
between them. At the time of the Downfall the governor  
of Dor-en-Dunhirion was Vorondil, a kinsman of Elendil  
and husband of his only daughter Elemmire.

Vardamire, wife of Elendil, was the daughter of  
Ar-Zimraphel by her first husband, Elentirmo of  
Hyarnumen. After the Downfall the Numenoreans in  
Exile took her for their queen as she was the last  
of the Blood Royal.

She had been a woman of great courage and wisdom  
but the horror of the Downfall broke her heart and  
her spirit and she ruled the Realms in Exile for  
barely a dozen years before growing weary of grief  
and laying down her life. But during her brief reign  
she molded the Crown Colonies at Lond Daer and Belfalas,  
and the colonies of the Faithful at Dunhirion and  
Pelagir into the twin kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor,  
brought the Lords and Princes of Arthedain under her  
scepter and saw the building of Annuminas, captial of  
the North, and Osgilliath, capital of the South.

Before she died Tar-Vardamire named her husband  
Elendil High King and King of Arnor and her son  
Isildur King of Gondor. It was Isildur himself who  
chose to share his scepter with his brother Anarion,  
a daring arrangment that worked remarkably well.  
Vardamire's role in the founding of the Kingdoms,  
indeed her very existence, was later ignored by the  
annalists of Gondor who tended to pass directly from  
Elendil's escape to Middle Earth with his sons to the  
War of the Last Alliance. They had their reasons.

Yet Elendil deserves his venerated position as  
founding father of the Realms in Exile. For while  
Vardamire had dreamed of recreating the Kingdom of  
Numenor in Middle Earth, Elendil accepted that this  
was neither possible nor desirable and discarded  
inherited laws and traditions to create new ones  
suited to the new land.

As he was not of the direct Royal line Elendil had the  
golden scepter and throne made for Tar-Vardamire put  
away and held court from the silver chair he had used  
as consort with the silver rod of the Lords of Andunie  
in his hand. Nor did he presume to the imperial 'Tar-'  
prefix of the Numenorean Kings.

In those days Arnor was the most populous and  
advanced of the two Kingdoms in Exile, and Gondor  
little more than a frontier dependency. Elendil built  
the fortress cities of Fornost in the North Downs and  
Cardol in the Red Lands south of the Baranduin, and the  
great fortress and watchtower of Amon Sul to guard his  
north-eastern frontier and the great East-West road  
that ran from Ost-en-Dunhirion to the High Passes  
of the Misty Mountains, uniting Arnor with the  
Princedom of Egladil and Elrond's Rivendell. Elendil  
built also the great Southern road that linked Arnor  
and Gondor and many lesser roads as well.

The history of the Last Alliance's War against  
Sauron is too well known from Professor Tolkien's  
masterly exegis of the Red Book of Westmarch to  
require repetition here. The death of Elendil made  
Isildur, his eldest son, High King of Arnor and  
Gondor. Perhaps out of respect for his brother's  
memory Isildur appointed Anarion's son Meneldil 'King  
of Gondor' and spent a year reordering the realm and  
instructing his nephew in his duties before taking the  
road north to disaster at the Gladden Field.

Dispite later assertions that Isildur 'reliquished'  
the scepter of Gondor to his brother's son and his  
heirs, it is clear he in fact merely appointed Meneldil  
his viceregent in the South. Meneldil took advantage  
of his uncle's death and the minority of his cousin to  
claim Gondor for himself. Put plainly he rebelled  
against his rightful overlord and usurped the throne  
of the Southern Kingdom.

Valandil, Isildur's only surviving son, was a boy  
of fourteen at the time of his succession and the  
North Kingdom was governed during his minority by his  
aunt Elemmire, Princess of Dunhirion, who Elendil had  
left as regent when he marched south to war. The statue  
cradling the shards of Narsil is a stylized portrait of  
Elemmire. It was her grandson, one of the three survivors  
of the Gladden Field, who brought the shards of Narsil  
to Rivendell and laid them in the lap of his grandmother,  
now the only living child of Elendil.  
  
Elemmire, though refuting Meneldil's claims, would  
not take up arms against her own kin. Valandil too  
forswore the use of force against his errant cousin  
and accepted Gondor's de facto independence but never  
conceeded his rights as High King, nor did his heirs.  
Meneldil's usurpation led, inevitably, to an  
estrangement between the two Dunedain kingdoms that  
would cost both dear. It also casts an interesting  
light on Gondor's imperialistic pretensions and her  
nobles' rather overdone scorn for the Line of Isildur,  
(as expressed by Denethor II). Compensation for a  
nagging sense of guilt perhaps?  
****

The Division of the Realm:

It is perhaps understandable that the historians of  
Gondor would project their own stormy dynastic history  
onto the annals of Arnor and interpret Earendur's  
creation of the Sub-Kingdoms of Cardolan and Rhudaur  
as a sop to ambitious younger sons. Nor would it have  
been easy for imperialistic Gondorim to understand  
Earendur's willingness to forgo direct control of  
large tracts of his realm or his desire to grant  
home rule to his non-Dunedain subjects.

The original north-east border of Arnor ran along  
the Weather Hills. Elendil built his great watchtower  
of Amon Sul as a defense against raids from the  
barbaric Hill Men of the northern fells. Successive  
Kings of Arnor made treaties with Clans of this people  
creating the March of Rhudaur as a buffer zone between  
Arnor proper and the far north. These Hill Men adopted  
gentler ways and proved themselves true and loyal  
subjects. Raising Rhudaur to the status of a  
sub-kingdom was intended not only as a reward for  
their good faith but to strengthen the North Eastern  
border.

Cardolan's origins were somewhat different. When  
Elendil built his great southern road he also built  
the Red Fortress of Cardol in the red land of Carnarthon  
to guard it. The building crews soon came under attack  
from Men living in the scattered woodlands to the  
southwest. These were descendants the Second House of  
the Edain, and so distant kin to the Numenoreans, but  
had been driven from their forest homes long ago by the  
logging operations of the Kings of Numenor, nor had  
they forgotten their ancient grudge against the Men  
of the West.

It took Elendil some years to conciliate this  
much wronged folk but by the 861st year of the Third  
Age they had become a numerous and agrarian people  
and good subjects of the Scepter. The new King of  
Cardolan's duties included policing and maintaining  
the south road above Tharbad, (Gondor being responsible  
for the rest).

As had been the case with Gondor, long ago, the  
'Kings' of Cardolan and Rhudaur were in fact  
viceregents who recieved their scepters by the grace  
of the High King who had the right to appoint whomever  
he wished. In practice the High Kings of Arthedain  
tended to choose the heir of the previous viceregent  
but were not by any means bound to do so.  
  
The first King of Rhudaur, Arothir second son of  
Earendur, was succeeded by his son Amdir. But as the  
latter left no heirs the then High King of Arthedain,  
Beleg, gave the scepter to his own second son Galadon  
who was followed by his son Galahad and grandson  
Galadnil. The last viceregent of Rhudaur was  
Beruthiel, wife of Galadnil and sister of the High  
King Malvegil. It was during her long reign,  
1250-1350, that the witch-realm of Angmar was  
established in the far north peopled by Hill Men, Orcs  
and worse things.

Queen Beruthiel held the marches of Rhudaur against  
Angmar for over fifty years but she died without heirs  
in 1350 and her nephew, Argeleb, I decided to take  
the kingdom into his own hands. As was his right, but  
it gave a faction corrupted by Angmar pretext for open  
rebellion. Yet the majority of the Men of Rhudaur  
remained loyal to the High Kingdom and fought bravely  
beside the Dunedain against their remote kin the Hill  
Men of Angmar.  
  
Argeleb I was killed by the insurgents in the first  
battle of Amon Sul, (1356). His successor, Arveleg I,  
defeated the rebels and drove them from Rhudaur,  
appointing Borlas son of Borlad, a chief of the loyal  
Hill Men, Lord of the Marches of Rhuduar both as a  
reward and a demonstration of his continued trust.  
  
For more than fifty years Borlas and his successors  
held the frontier against Angmar supported by both  
Arthedain and Cardolan but in 1409 a sudden massive  
onslaught overwhelmed Rhudaur driving the suriviving  
Dunedain and loyal Hill Men into Arthedain or over the  
Mitheithel into the Angle. The Lords of the Marches  
built strongholds in the hills of the Angle from which  
they continued to harry the enemy until their castles  
were destroyed one by one in 19th and 20th centuries  
of the Third Age.  
  
After the fall of Arthedain the descendants of the  
Men of Rhudaur loyaly followed their King into hiding.  
Like the Dunedain, they became Rangers patrolling the  
wild and holding the Line against dangers from north  
and east. Treasuring the promise first made by Arveleg I  
that when the Heirs of Isildur came again into their  
own the Kingdom of Rhudaur would be reestablished headed  
by an under-king of the Blood Royal.  
***  
  
The scepter of Cardolan was given to Dunendil,  
third and youngest son of Earendur. His capital was at  
Cardol, where the great south road split to go due  
north to Fornost and west to Ost-en-Dunhirion. The  
Dunedain among his subjects lived for the most part  
in the red lands of Carnarthon around the city,  
but the southern part of his kingdom, Minhiriath,  
the 'Land Between the Rivers' (Baranduin and Gwathlo)  
was inhabited by descendants of the Forest Men.

Stocky and brown haired, often with brown or hazel  
eyes, they were farm folk living in tight knit villages  
or small towns, shunning the cities of the Dunedain.  
Stubbornly parochial, distrustful of outsiders and  
resistant to change. The House of Elendil earned the  
loyalty of these Men with fair dealing and never lost it.  
  
Unlike Arthedain or Rhudaur Cardolan had several  
ruling Queens. The first was Emerwen, granddaughter of  
Dunendil. Her brother, Duinhir, predeceased their  
father King Caranthir and the High King gave the  
scepter to her, for she was a woman of great energy and  
ability. Her son, Celebron, died early in his reign  
slain by Dunlending raiders as he patrolled the south road.  
The eldest of his three daughters, Celebrien, was young  
and unmarried but she reacted swiftly and decisively  
destroying the Dunlendings' robber strongholds and  
exacting a blood price from their King.  
  
The High King rewarded her with her father's  
scepter. Her daughter Aranel ruled after her but the  
latter part of her reign was darkened by the threat of  
Angmar. After her all three of her sons wielded the  
scepter in turn, and all three died fighting the Witch  
King. The last of them, Aradan, fell with his sons defending  
Cardol against an army of Dunlendings allied with Angmar  
in 1409.  
  
Cardolan was overrun by enemies from the North and  
the South. The Dunedain of the Red Hills, led by  
Prince Arduin, a grandnephew of the late King, retreated  
to the Barrow Downs and the Men of Minhiriath took  
to the woodlands to fight as their ancestors had done  
with bow and arrow and fire. Together the people of  
Cardolan, with aid from Arthedain and Lindon, drove  
the invaders from their soil.  
  
Araphor, the young High King, gave the scepter to  
Arduin, who married his elder sister the Princess Ardanis.  
But the new King died just four years later of a  
wasting fever and his Queen took the scepter with her  
brother's blessing. Under the name Celebrien II she  
ruled for 176 years and was succeeded by her grandson,  
Elboron, but he died in the Great Plague of 1637,  
leaving no direct heirs.  
  
The Men of Minhiriath were heavily affected by the  
pestilence, their numbers reduced by half, with the  
fleeing northward to escape the contagion. They settled  
in villages along the Great Road and in the southern  
tip of the Angle and along the east bank of the Baranduin,  
and their descendants still lived in those places at the  
time of the War of the Ring.

The Dunedain of Cardolan were were for the most part  
unscathed but they had always been but a small part of  
the population of the Kingdom. With no direct heir surviving  
and so many of her people dead the High King took back the  
scepter of Cardolan and it became again a mere province of  
Arnor.  
***

The Witch Wars:

The accounts of these wars in the Annals of Gondor  
are both confused and incomplete. The annalists seem  
to have been under the impression the three Kingdoms  
of the North were in constant strife, in fact the High  
Kingdom and sub-kingdoms lived in peace for nearly  
five hundred years, or as long as an Heir of Isildur  
reigned in all three.(1) The rebellion of Rhudaur in 1350  
was engineered by the Witch King of Angmar, (the Chief  
of the Nazgul) who had been sent north by his master  
to destroy the Line of Isildur who Sauron hated above  
all Men.  
  
Beruthiel of Arthedain, widow of King Galadnil and  
sister of the High King, held the scepter of Rhudaur  
during the years the Witch King was building his realm  
in the north and he made little progress while she  
lived.  
  
The bulk of the Men of Rhudaur were of Hill stock,  
akin to the evil Men the Witch King had brought under  
his sway, but unlike them in every other way being  
civil, honorable and loyal to their Queen. Yet there  
are always a few who are ambitious and discontented  
and these the Witch King suborned.  
  
When Queen Beruthiel died (1350) and her nephew the  
High King Argeleb I chose to take the scepter of  
Rhudaur into his own hands rather than appoint a new  
vice-regent those Men who were Angmar's tools raised a  
rebellion against him.  
  
They killed Argeleb in the first battle of Amon  
Sul, (1356) but his son Arveleg I, defeated the forces  
of Angmar and drove them from Rhudaur. Arveleg retained  
the scepter of Rhudaur but appointed Borlas son of  
Borlad, a captain and councillor of the late Queen, his  
viceregent in all but name giving him the title of  
Lord of the Marches of Rhudaur. And this was meant not  
only as reward to Borlas for his services to Beruthiel  
and Argeleb I but as a demonstration of the High  
King's continued trust in his Hill-Men subjects. And  
Arveleg made a solemn vow to restore the Kingdom of  
Rhudaur when days of peace returned. Neither he nor  
the Men who accepted the vow forsaw it would be nigh  
on seventeen hundred years before it could be fulfilled.  
  
The Men of Rhudaur proved more than worthy of their  
High King's trust. For over fifty years Borlas and his  
successors held the marches against thepower of Angmar,  
but in 1409 they were overwhelmed by a sudden massive  
onslaught from Carn Dum. Minvorn Erain, the Black Tower  
the Kings, capital and great fortress of Rhudaur fell  
and the then Lord of the Marches and his Men with it,  
fighting to the last. The survivors, Dunedain and Hill  
Men alike, fled to the fortresses of the Weather Hills  
and there made their stand alongside the army of Arthedain.  
King Arveleg was killed in the second Battle of Amon Sul,  
the Tower destroyed and its Palantir taken by the enemy.  
The survivors fell back to Fornost, led now by Araphor,  
the eighteen year old son of Arveleg.  
  
In the south the Red Fortress of Cardol fell to a  
combined attack by Angmar and Dunlendings. King Aradan  
and his sons were killed but his grandnephew, Prince  
Arduin, fought on from his refuge in the Barrow Downs.  
The Men of Minhiriath, driven from their homes took to  
the Woodlands and harried the enemy has their fathers'  
fathers had harrassed the Numenoreans long ago.  
  
Imladris too was beseiged by an army of Orcs and  
Hill Men and had Elrond not been the keeper of Vilya,  
chief of the three Elven Rings, and free to use its  
power since the loss of the One Ring, he would surely  
have been overcome. As it was he could not break out  
to bring aid his mortal kin.  
  
It was the Elves of Lindon who came to the support  
of the Dunedain. Though they were no longer the great  
host Gil-Galad had led to The Last Alliance still they  
were enough to turn the tide. They relieved the seige  
of Fornost and together with the young High King drove  
back the armies of Angmar beyond the frontier of the  
Weather Hills and recaptured the Palantir of Amon Sul.  
  
The siege of Imladris was broken by an army of  
Elves sent from Lorien by Galadriel. They cleared the  
land between the Mitheithel and Bruinen of the forces  
of Angmar but the greater part of Rhudaur remained in  
enemy hands. Deprived of the support of Angmar the  
Dunlendings were driven out of Cardolan and pursued  
even to the borders of their own land by the Dunedain  
warriors of Prince Arduin and the Men of Minihiriath.  
  
The forts of the Weather Hills were rebuilt by  
Araphor and Borgan, Heir of Borlas, was confirmed as  
Lord of the Marches of Rhudaur making his stronghold  
in the highlands between the Mitheithel and the  
Bruinen. In the south Arduin was given the scepter  
of Cardolan, and took the sister of Araphor as his  
Queen. All settled down to a long, watchful peace.  
  
Four hundred and forty one years later, (1851) The  
High King Araval, allied with the Elves of Lindon and  
Imladris, won a great victory against Angmar. Though  
Araval failed to retake central Rhudaur and Minvorn  
Erain the Witch King was forced to flee the field of  
battle, and his forces were decimated and his power  
greatly weakened.  
  
Araval's son Araphant renewed the war upon his  
succession (1891) and by 1900 had driven the Hill Men  
of Angmar from Rhudaur and given its scepter to his  
younger brother Arvellin.  
  
Araphant sought an alliance with Gondor against  
what he now percieved was their common foe, Sauron  
himself disembodied but still malign. In 1940 his son  
Arvedui married Firiel, the only daughter of King  
Ondoher of Gondor.  
  
Arvedui was named 'Last King' by the Royal  
councillor Malbeth, a famous seer, who forsaw for him  
two possible destinies; either he would reunite the  
Realms in Exile and lead the Dunedain to victory over  
the creatures of Sauron or he would fall in battle  
against Angmar and the Dunedain would fall with him  
and endure many years of trial before another chance  
would come to restore their fortunes.  
  
The chance for reunion came in 1944 when King  
Ondoher and his two sons fell in battle against the  
Wainriders. Arvedui put forward his claim to the crown  
of Gondor as the Heir of Isildur, elder son and heir  
of Elendil. And his wife Firiel's rights as the only  
surviving child of her father. But the Council of  
Gondor, led by the Steward Pelendur, rejected both  
claims replying, (falsely though they may have  
believed it true) that Isildur had relinquished his  
throne of Gondor to Meneldil and that women were  
ineligible to wear the crown. Instead they took a  
victorious general distantly akin to the Royal House  
to be their king thus indirectly causing the  
destruction of Arthedain and the long decline of  
Gondor herself.  
  
It was at this time that Tar-Vardamire, wife of  
Elendil and mother of Isildur and Anarion, last of the  
Line of the Kings of Numenor and first Ruler of the  
Realms in Exile, abruptly vanishes from the histories  
of Gondor. Hitherto the Heirs of Anarion had made rather  
a point of their descent from the Kings of Numenor but  
when one has denied the daughter of the King her heritage  
on account of her sex one cannot very well admit that the  
founders of the realm owed their scepters to their  
wife and mother!  
  
As always the heirs of Isildur took their rejection  
with grace, acccepting the new King Earnil's  
professions of friendship and maintaining the alliance  
with Gondor, though it did them little good in the  
end.  
  
Araphant resigned the scepter to his son Arvedui in  
1964, (as was the custom of the Heirs of Isildur) and  
in the autumn of 1973 the new King sent word to Gondor  
that Angmar was mustering its forces for war. True to  
his word King Earnil immediately began preparing a  
fleet to go to the aid of Arthedain but the Witch King  
launched his attack in the dead of winter, surprising  
his enemies. He overran Rhudaur and took Fornost  
itself early in 1974. Realizing to stand was to die  
Arvedui ordered the evacuation of the City covering  
the escaping refugees, led by his wife and sons, with  
his Royal Guard.  
  
Queen Firiel and Prince Aranarth led their people  
over the Baranduin and into Dunhirion before going to  
Mithlond to appeal to Cirdan, ancient ally of the  
North Kingdom for his help.  
  
The King managed to escape with a few men north  
over the river Lune and finally to the Bay of Forochel  
where he was aided by the Lossoth, the snow people,  
who dwelt there. Cirdan sent a ship to him but it was  
crushed by the ice and the King and his company  
drowned.  
  
The fleet of Gondor, (which was not quite so grand  
and powerful as the historians of that country would  
have us believe) arrived to late to save Arvedui but  
the new King, Aranarth, (whose role in the final  
defeat of Angmar is strangely overlooked in the Annals  
of Gondor) was glad enough of their coming.  
  
A cool headed and patient man he restrained his  
impetuous kinsman and ally Earnur of Gondor, mustering  
his forces slowly, and in secret and laying his plans  
with care. And when all was ready striking suddenly  
and with force, together with the Elves of Lindon and  
Imladris, taking the Witch King by surprise as he had  
surprised the Dunedain. And Angmar was defeated so  
utterly that the Witch King fled the North altogether  
but Fornost and Minvorn Erain lay in ruins and the  
land was ravaged.  
  
Earnur, who was as generous as he was brave, (but  
none too bright as subsequent events would show)  
offered to take Aranarth and his people to Gondor  
where indeed they would have been a welcome addition  
to the sadly depleted ranks of the Dunedain. The  
political complications of the rightful heirs to the  
Kingdom living under the protection of its usurpers  
escaped Earnur entirely but not Aranarth. Realizing  
his presence in Gondor could only create dangerous  
dissension he chose to remain in his own kingdom, and  
his people stayed with him.  
  
It was within Aranarth's power to rebuild Fornost  
and even Minvorn Erain; Cardolan, Dunhirion and the  
lands west of the Evendim Hills were almost untouched  
and his people, (dispite later reports to the  
contrary) numerous enough. But he recognized that to  
do so would be to invite further attacks and greater  
losses.  
  
And so he chose to disappear with his people,  
abandoning their remaining cities and towns for hidden  
fastnesses spread throughout the 'Lost Realm of  
Arnor'. Aranarth gave up the name of King calling  
himself instead Chieftain of the Dunedain and gave the  
scepter of Annuminas into the keeping of Elrond along  
with the shards of Narsil and other heirlooms against  
the day of reunion promised by Malbeth.  
***  
  
On the Numenorean Laws Of Succession And Queen Firiel's  
Claim To Her Father's Throne:  
  
The Edain of the First Age followed what we would  
call the 'Salic Law', inheritance through the male line  
only. If their Lord had no son of his own to follow him  
the rule went not to his daughter or to her sons but  
to his nearest male relative descended in the male line.  
  
In all fairness this was not an unreasonable custom  
for a migratory people under almost constant attack.  
Their rulers had to be warriors and it is literally  
insane for a small, endangered population to risk its  
women in warfare.  
  
They continued to follow this traditional law after  
settling in Numenor until the reign of Tar-Aldarion  
whose only child was a daughter. He changed the law so  
she could succeed him: The new rule was that sons took  
precedence over daughters but failing a male heir a  
daughter could inherit.

Tar-Aldarion's council added to this law a rider;  
an heiress, unlike a male heir, was free to refuse the  
scepter if she chose, (and at least two are known to  
have done so). Sometime later, probably under  
Tar-Ancalime the first Ruling Queen, the law was  
changed again to simple primogeniture. The eldest  
child inheriting regardless of gender.

It seems probable that this final law applied only  
to the Royal House. Evidence suggests that other noble  
families continued, for the most part, to follow the  
old law of male only inheritance. But those of the  
Line of Elros, such as the Lords of Andunie, adopted  
the new Law of Aldarion that permitted the succession  
of females.

And it was the Law of Aldarion that became the law of  
Arnor after the Downfall. Thus it seemed obvious to Arvedui  
that his wife Firiel was rightful heiress of the Line of  
Anarion after the deaths of her father and brothers, and  
her sons after her.  
  
The Council of Gondor's refusal of her claim had, I  
suspect, more to do with the fact she was married to  
the Heir of Isildur than her sex, though the latter  
made a useful excuse. They simply did not want reunion  
with the North Kingdom.  
  
And one can't help but be suspicious of the  
disinterestedness of Mardil 'The Good Steward' and his  
successors in their continued rejection of the Heirs  
of Isildur. Especially as they later made a law  
allowing the Stewardship to be inherited in the female  
line!.  
  
Leaving aside the entire question of Meneldil's  
right to the kingdom of Gondor, Aragorn as the  
descendant of Firiel was as much the Heir of Anarion  
as he was of Isildur.  
***

On the Kingdom of Gondor and the Stewards:

The claim of the Heirs of Anarion to the throne  
of Gondor was decidedly questionable. By right they  
were only sub-kings ruling by the grace of the High  
King in Arnor, but Meneldil son of Anarion had taken  
advantage of the untimely death of his uncle Isildur  
to claim independent sovereignity.

In Gondor it was said, after Isildur's death, that  
he had resigned the scepter of the Southern Kingdom  
to his nephew and his heirs. But there is no charter  
or other record confirming so momentous a decision  
by Isildur and the story is certainly untrue.

It was believed in the North that Meneldil's lie  
and oathbreaking were the root cause of all Gondor's  
subsequent misfortunes, and of the swift waning of  
the Dunedain of the South.

If Arnor became as an image of Numenor in the days  
of her bliss in her piety and her art and learning, then  
Gondor grew to resemble the Downfallen in the worst of her  
pride and power. The Dunedain of the South repeated many  
of the follies of their ancestors; desire for the  
immortality of the Elves, greed for wealth and conquest,  
obsession with lineage and 'purity of blood',(leading to the  
destructive Kinstrife) all but the final folly. To their  
credit the Gondorim never fell into the snare of the  
Enemy but were always counted among his most feared foes.

If the Line of Anarion's claim to sovereignity was  
questionable The legitimacy of the Stewards' rule was  
doubly so. Especially as they had knowingly denied  
the throne to the legitimate heir on decidedly spurious  
grounds (discussed above). Though many of the Stewards  
were good and honorable Men Gondor did not flourish  
under their rule, indeed her long decline accelerated  
during the thousand years of their governance. It was  
not until the King Returned that Gondor regained something  
of her ancient glory.  
**************************************************************  
(1) As evidenced by the fact that not one of the High Kings of  
Arthedain dies a violent death in all this time.  



	2. History of the Elven Realm of Lake Evendim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reconstruction of the history of the Northern Kingdom. Warning! speculation, fanon and some out and out AU.

Long ago, before the Sun and the Moon were made and  
when the Firstborn of Eru were newly come into the  
World, they were summoned by the Valar to join  
them in the Undying Lands of the West to dwell there  
in bliss and the light of the Two Trees. But not all  
heeded the call, and of those who did there were  
some who strayed from the long road prefering the  
wide lands and starlight of Middle Earth to the  
promises of the Valar.

These were known as the Nandor, Those Who Turn  
Back. And in time some of this people came into the lands  
between the Misty Mountains and the Blue, that would  
one day be called Eriador, and settled on the shores  
of a great lake whose still waters reflected the  
starry skies and was fed by dozens of sparkling brooks  
and streams flowing down from the high, wooded hills  
surrounding it on three sides.

And they called it Nenuial 'Water of Twilight' or,  
as later Men translated it, Lake Evendim. And the  
forested highlands around it were named the Emyn Uial,  
or Evendim Hills. And there they dwelt through all the  
long ages of the Trees and into the shorter years of  
the newborn sun.

Now Celeborn Prince of Doriath was a great  
huntsman. And at times he would tire of the familiar  
forests of Beleriand and pass eastward over the  
mountains into the wider, wilder lands of Eriador and  
there dwell for a time among the Nandor on the shores  
of Lake Nenuial.

It so fell out that he was there in the east at the  
time of Melkor's return and so, though he shared the  
Nandor's wonder and awe at the new lights of moon and  
sun, he had no knowledge of what they portended and  
remained at peace among his friends rather than  
returning in alarm to Doriath.

Now Galadriel daughter of Finarfin was mighty among  
the Noldor. And though she dwelt for a time as a guest  
in Doriath and learned much of Melian the Queen she  
longed for a realm of her own to be ordered by her  
will and no other.

All the lands of Beleriand were already claimed by  
either the Lords of the Noldor, her kin, or the Sindar  
or the Laiquendi so she decided to pass east over the  
mountains and to make herself a realm in the unsettled  
lands beyond the Ered Luin.

And so she led a great company, for she had many  
followers among the Noldor, through the passes at the  
foot of Mount Dolmed and into the wide forests of  
Eriador. There she encountered a wandering company of  
Nandorin Elves who told her of Lake Evendim and its  
many clear streams and it sounded to her like a fair  
place and one where she might make her seat.

Now the Elves of Nenuial learning of the approach  
of so large and warlike a company, took fright and  
thought to flee into the high hills. But Celeborn  
counseled against this and promised to go forth  
himself and challenge these invaders, threatening them  
with the vengeance of Thingol should they attempt any  
violence against the people of the lake.

And so Celeborn of Doriath first laid eyes on  
Galadriel of the Noldor at a formal parley and found  
her very fair. And she thought that she had never seen  
so kingly an Elven lord even among the great ones of  
the West, and their hearts were turned one to the  
other.

From Galadriel Celeborn learned of all that had  
passed, both in Aman and in Beleriand, and was greatly  
afraid. Not for Doriath, safe under the protection of  
Melian, but for the Nandor of Eriador who were a  
simple folk and easy prey for Morgoth and his  
creatures.

And so he advised the Lake Elves to welcome the  
Noldor and learn from them that which they would need to  
know to defend themselves in the Dark times to come.  
And to this they agreed on condition that Celeborn,  
who they knew well and trusted, would be their lord  
and protect them from both the Shadow and the strange,  
fell Elves from across the sea.

Celeborn accepted the charge and he and Galadriel  
plighted their troth on the shores of Lake Evendim in  
the presence of all their peoples. And Galadriel  
treated with the Dwarves of Belegost, who dwelt not  
far away in the Blue Mountains, to delve for them  
splendid halls like unto those of Menegroth and  
Nargothrond. And the craftsmen among her company  
adorned them with their art until Rhauth Uial, the  
Caves of Evendim, were the fairest Elven dwelling east  
of the Mountains and the most splendid.

Then Celeborn and Galadriel left their new realm  
for a time, passing westward over the Mountains, so  
they might be wed with all ceremony in the presence of  
their kin. But they soon returned to their own country  
and remained there throughout the long peace and  
through the battles that ended it until news came to  
them of the Ruin of Doriath. Then Celeborn, in great  
grief and wrath, led his host over the Mountains to  
avenge his kin.

He found that Beren and the Green Elves of  
Ossiriand had already destroyed the Dwarf army of  
Nogrod. But Celeborn and his host remained for a time  
in Doriath, helping repair the ravages of war, and  
even after his men has gone home he stayed on to  
advise the new King, Dior Eluchil.

And so Celeborn was there when the Sons of Feanor  
descended upon Doriath in the second Kinslaying and  
fought with Dior against them. But the King was slain  
with his wife, and his sons lost. And the little  
Princess Elwing was carried away to refuge in the  
south by her nurse.

Then Celeborn led such of the people who had not  
already fled south, eastward to join his own people by  
Lake Evendim. And the realm of Celeborn and Galadriel  
was then the only great Elven Kingdom left in all  
Middle Earth and they knew it was only a matter of  
time before they were assailed as well.

So Queen Galadriel called upon the arts she had  
learned of Melian and wove a great web of protection  
and defense around the Kingdom of the Lake. Wakened  
trees were her watchmen and birds and beasts her  
messengers. And for the unwelcome intruder the paths  
went all awry, leading them ever northward into wild  
and barren hills.  
  
And Morgoth did indeed assail them, even as they  
expected, with a great host of Orcs mounted on wargs  
and led by his servant Gorthaur, (known also as  
Sauron) and his guard of werewolves. And there was  
fire and war in the forests of Evendim but the  
enchantments of Galadriel held and the army of  
Celeborn drove the enemy from their borders, slaying  
many Orcs and Wargs and Werewolves too.

And Gorthaur fled in terror of Galadriel's power  
and Celeborn's sword, and filled with anger and shame  
returned to his master. Fearing punishment he lied to  
Morgoth claiming the Kindom of the Lake had been  
overthrown and its King and Queen slain.

And the Dark Lord was decieved and turned his power  
on the last stronghold of the Noldor in Beleriand,  
that of Maedros and Maglor on Amon Ereb. And they were  
driven into the sea and forced to take refuge on the  
Isle of Balar with the other Exiles. And Morgoth  
rejoiced that all Middle Earth was now in his hand,  
but it was not so.

For bands of Men and of Sindar and Laiquendi still  
lived in hiding in the lands of Beleriand, and at  
times came forth from their secret fastnesses to do  
the Enemy what hurt they could, and those hurts were  
not pinpricks but great wounds. And so the battle was  
carried on, not by the Noldor who had come in pride  
and defiance and lay under the ban of the Valar, but  
by the Dark Elves of Middle Earth and the Elf-Friends  
of the Three Houses, their allies.

When the Host of the Valar came out of the West  
Eonwe the Herald, its commander, refused the swords  
of the Exiles for they still lay under the Doom of  
Mandos. But called to his banner the Men and Elves of  
Middle Earth.

Celeborn led forth his Sindar and Nandor, but the  
Noldor among the People of the Lake remained behind  
with Galadriel the Queen. And the host of Evendim  
fought beside that of the Valar in the War of Wrath  
and saw the breaking of Thangorodrim and the downfall  
of Morgoth.

But when Eonwe called upon all Elves to quit Middle  
Earth and go into the West Celeborn was among those  
who refused. and Galadriel was one of the few Exiles  
who were not forgiven, for her heart remained proud  
and she did not repent.

And she returned to the Lake together with those of  
their people who had also chosen to remain. But  
Celeborn lingered in Lindon, broken fragment of sunken  
Beleriand, to order there a new realm for the  
surviving Sindar and Laiquendi. And among those who'd  
sought refuge there he found the long lost sons of  
Dior, Elurin and Elured, who he and all of their kin  
had mourned as dead.

It seemed that after they were abandoned to starve  
by the cruel servants of Celegorm the boys were  
succored by birds, (sent perhaps by Melian their  
foremother) who fed them on berries and nuts and small  
game and led them by secret ways to Tol Galen, the  
green isle where they had been born. And there they  
had remained, alone save for the birds of Melian,  
until the tumult of the final battles had driven them  
forth to flee, like many others, to the feet of the  
Ered Luin.

And there Celeborn recognized them by their  
likeness to their father and by the silver fair hair  
they had from their mother, Nimloth, who was his  
niece. And proclaimed them the rightful heirs of Elu  
Thingol and lords of the remaining Sindar. But they  
were shy and wild and untaught, unfit to govern, and  
Celeborn remained long with them in Harlindon,  
instructing them in all they should know.

So Galadriel ruled alone in Rhuath Uial and there  
were those among the people, chiefly Sindar from  
Doriath, who took offense at her Noldorin ways and  
many left the Lake kingdom and went eastward over the  
Misty Mountains to live among the simple sylvan Elves,  
away from the proud Noldor and their wars. And among  
these were Orophir and his son Thranduil, later Kings  
of Mirkwood; and Amdir and his son Amroth, who became  
Kings of Lorien.

Returning at last to Lake Evendim Celeborn was  
disturbed to find so many of his folk, including  
friends from his boyhood in Doriath, gone. But those  
that remained welcomed him warmly, as did Galadriel  
his wife and their daughters; Lorellin and Celebrian.

And the sons of Dior came to visit their uncle and  
Elured's heart turned to Lorellin, the golden haired  
elder daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel, and hers to  
him. And so they were wedded and Elurin returned alone  
to Harlindon.

Now news came to Rhuath Uial that Noldor of the  
following of Celebrimbor had founded a new realm at  
the foot of the Misty Mountains in the land of  
Eregion. And that their city of Ost-en-Edhil was as  
fair as Elven Tirion of old and that the smiths of  
that land were wise in craft and makers of many  
wonderful things. And Galadriel's heart was fired with  
desire to see all this for herself.

And so she departed, along with most of the Noldor  
remaining in the Kingdom of the Lake, to Eregion and  
dwelt there. And Celebrimbor and his smiths gave her  
much honor and delighted in making fair jewels for her  
pleasure.

But in Rhuath Uial Celeborn was saddened by the  
empty halls and silent smithies of his much reduced  
realm. And after a few years he gave up the Kingship  
to Elured and Lorellin and with Celebrian, his younger  
daughter, went to join Galadriel in Eregion nor did  
either of them ever return to Kingdom of the Lake.  



	3. Of Annuminas the Golden, City of Elendil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reconstruction of the history of the Northern Kingdom. Warning! speculation, fanon and some out and out AU.

After the departure of Celeborn and Galadriel  
Lorellin, their daughter, and Elured son of Dior were  
King and Queen of the Lake. But the realm was much  
diminished for the Noldor and many of the Sindar who  
had dwelt there departed to other kingdoms leaving  
mainly the Nandor who had been there since before the  
Sun and the Moon.

The great city the Noldor had delved beneath the  
hills was abandoned and fell into ruin, for the Lake  
folk preferred to dwell among the trees in sight of  
sky and water. But their King and Queen still held  
court in the fair palace wrought for Celeborn and  
Galadriel.

When Sauron destroyed Eregion and spread his power  
over the western lands the Lake Elves did not answer  
Gil-Galad's summons. Instead Elured and Lorellin wove  
new protections of shadow and confusion about their  
realm and their people stayed secure within these  
defenses. But many dark things wandered into the woods  
of Evendim and were unable to escape, and the hills  
became the haunt of terrors.

Even after Sauron was driven back and the West was  
at peace the Lake Elves did not fare forth nor remove  
their shadowy walls and the Men of Arthedain feared  
the haunted wood and told strange stories about the  
Enchanted Lake and the King and Queen who ruled it.

Now after the Downfall of Numenor storms drove the  
ships of Elendil northward to the Grey Havens. And his  
wife, Tar-Vardamire, was taken as queen by the  
Numenoreans in Exile for she was the last of the blood  
royal. And the princes and lords of Arthedain also  
accepted her suzereinity. For their people were close  
kin to the Numenoreans, like them descended from  
the Edain of Old.

Then Elendil fared forth seeking a place to build  
the capital of the new realm and his eye fell upon the  
Lake of Evendim, midway between the lands settled by  
the Numenoreans and the lands of the Runedain (1).  
And it seemed to him both a fair and fitting site for  
the new city.

And so, though the Men of Arthedain warned against  
it, he entered the enchanted forest. But such was the  
strength of his will that the webs of shadow and  
deception availed not against him. And his company  
came even to the shores of Lake Evendim, the first Men  
to look on it in many hundreds of years. And on the  
southeastern side Elendil found a green and treeless  
vale and chose it as the site for his city.

Then the Elves of the Lake fell upon them.  
Recognizing their kind Elendil bade his Men to lay  
down their weapons and suffered himself to be taken  
and led as a prisoner before Elured and Lorellin.

Now Elured was the brother of Elwing, mother of  
Elrond Half-Elven and Elros Tar-Minyatur, and he  
recognized Elendil as his kin and made him welcome.  
Nor did the Elven King begrudge the Mortal the land he  
desired but made him a free gift of it, for the Elves  
dwelt only on the northwestern side of the Lake.

Thus the city of Annuminas, (The Tower of Sunset)  
rose on the shores of Lake Evendim at the behest of  
Elendil, built by masons and artisans of Numenor and  
embellished by the Elven craftsmen of Lindon and  
Rivendell.

Her buildings were of fine white stone adorned with  
pillared arcades, sculpted figures and fretted  
carvings. And their wide casements were set with  
devices of colored glass that glittered like jewels.  
And the pinacles of her many towers and her many domes  
were covered with fine gold that caught the light of  
the sun and filled the vale with radiance, winning her  
the name of Annuminas the Golden. And she was the  
fairest city ever raised by the hands of Men,  
surpassing even Armenelos of the Kings in Numenor, and  
rivalling, (it was said) the glory of Elven Tirion  
beyond the sea.

Broad tree lined avenues there were, and squares  
paved with wonderful designs in colored marbles. And  
there were gardens and parks filled with rare trees  
and flowers saved from lost Numenor. And everywhere  
the glitter of water in channels and pools and a  
thousand singing fountains.

Defended by enchantments the city was unwalled,  
filling the vale and extending on piles over the lake.  
And the Great Lords built themselves fair villas on  
the southeastern shore and hunting lodges under the  
eaves of the forest. For the Dunedain found sport in  
slaying the evil things laired in the wood and through  
their efforts it became a cleaner place, though still  
perilous.

Two ways there were into the city: By water up the  
Baranduin and along the lake shore to the warves of  
the merchants, (for most of the city's trade was by  
water). Or by the road Elendil cut through the hills  
behind his city. And this road was defended by five  
gates, wrought by Elven smiths for the Kings of Men.

First came the Gate of Winter; an iron grill  
wrought in the forms of leafless trees with  
intricately interlacing boughs, set between high  
towers of dark grey stone crowned with spikes of iron.  
Beyond this gate was a wide, white paved road lined  
with great trees, shapely and bare of leaves, wrought  
of black iron.

Next was the Gate of Autumn guarded by towers of  
reddish stone crowned by spikes of bronze. And between  
them hung brazen gates decorated with autumn trees,  
their limbs rich with red-golden leaves. And the road  
beyond ran between great trees with boles and boughs  
of bronze and leaves of beaten copper.

Third came the Gate of Summer, and its towers were  
of honey colored stone with parapets of fine gold. The  
gate was also of gold, the woven trees glittering with  
leaves of beryl and fruits of garnet, topaz and  
tourmaline. And beyond it the road was bordered with  
golden trees laden with leaves and fruit of sparkling  
gems.

Fourth was the Gate of Spring and it was of fair  
silver set between towers of shining alabaster crowned  
with silver parapets. And the trees which formed the  
gate glistened with young leaves of pale peridot and  
jeweled blossoms. And the road behind the gate was  
lined with new budding trees wrought of silver and  
jewels.

The fifth and final gate pierced a bank of green  
sward. This was the Gate of the Two Trees and its  
posts were towering images of Laurelin and Telperien  
wrought in gold and topaz, and silver and pearl. And  
between them hung gates of interlaced silver and gold  
adorned with figures of the sun and moon.

Beyond this gate the road entered the city itself  
and became a fair avenue lined with fragrant evergreen  
trees of oiolaire, lairelosse, nessamelda, vardariana,  
taniquelasse and yavannamire, Elven trees brought long  
ago to Numenor from fair Eldamar. And the avenue ran  
straight over low arched bridges above lily filled water  
courses,through green and flowering parks and stately  
squares to a terraced plaza in the heart of the city.

This was the Place of the Kings and it was filled  
with the music of golden fountains and adorned with  
images of heroes and Kings, carved of stone or cast in  
metal, looking down from their high pedestals. And on  
its topmost terrace stood the Palace of the Kings with  
its high golden domes, and soaring over all the gold  
tipped Tower of Elendil.

And under the largest of the domes, beneath stars  
of Elven crystal, stood an image of the White Tree of  
Numenor wrought of mithril and laiquin (2) and jewels by  
Enerdhil, second only to Feanor among the Elven smiths  
of old. Its flowers were of opal and pearl and the  
delicate leaves, dark green above and silver below,  
thin and veined like those of a living tree, moved,  
chiming one against the other, as the air stirred  
them, filling the great chamber with a soft music.

And the golden throne of Tar-Vardamire was set  
beneath the shining tree with a simple silver chair  
for her consort at its side. And here she held her  
court in a round hall walled with frescoes of fair  
Numenor before the Downfall, under a starry dome  
upheld by golden pillars shaped like laurinque trees  
with spreading boughs and a fretwork of golden  
blossoms.

But Tar-Vardamire did not live long, her heart  
broken by grief and horror she laid down her life  
after a few short years, leaving the scepter of the  
High Kingdom to Elendil her husband. And he put away  
her golden throne prefering his silver chair. And for  
a scepter he used the Silver Rod wielded by the Lords  
of Andunie of Old.

To the west of the the city rose a tall hill, made  
even taller by the arts of the Numenoreans, where  
Elendil made a Hallow for the worship of Eru. Amon  
Dinen, the Hill of Silence, rose in a smooth cone high  
above the surrounding forested hills. And a wide stone  
stair wound round it to a crown of shining, tapered  
white stones encircling its summit. Within these was a  
grassy hollow, large enough for thousands to gather to  
hear the Three Prayers said. (3) And in its center were  
three low blocks of black marble, marking the stations  
of the King, the Queen, and the Heir.

By ancient tradition only the King, acting as  
intermediary for his people, could speak aloud in the  
Hallow and then only to offer the ancient prayers. (4)  
But any Man or Woman might climb the Hill at any time  
to sit in the silence and listen for the Voice of Eru  
in their hearts.

As the realm expanded eastward Fornost, the White  
Tower of the North, became more important because of  
its closeness to the troubled northern and eastern  
borders. And the King's Heir made his seat there and  
had the title Prince of Fornost.

Earendur it was who divided the realm, creating the  
sub-kingdoms of Rhudaur and Cardolan and giving their  
scepters to his youngers sons. But the ancient heart  
of the realm, Arthedain and Dunhirion, passed to  
Amlaith his eldest son with the the Silver Scepter of  
the High Kings.

But Amlaith chose to keep his court at Fornost, as  
he had as Heir, for he loved the high downs. And it  
became known as Fornost Erain, the Northern Fortress  
of the Kings. But Annuminas remained the official seat  
of the realm, and here both the High Kings and the  
Lesser Kings would repair at times to take council  
together and to hold the great ceremonies of state  
when they recieved their scepters, took their Queens  
or named their Heirs. And there the High Kings still  
came to say the Three Prayers in the Hallow Elendil  
made for Eru.

Then the Witch King arose in Angmar and the people  
of the Dunedain moved eastward to confront their foe,  
and the population of Annuminas was diminished as was  
that of all the westlands. But the City of Elendil was  
not utterly abandoned until the time of Aranarth, when  
the King laid down his scepter and with his people  
went into hiding, abandoning their cities and  
fortresses to the ravages of time.

And so for a thousand years the Dunedain of the  
North wandered the Wilds as Rangers, and fought in  
secret the foes of Men. And the King of the Lake  
watched over the City of Elendil so it did not fall  
into ruin but rather slept, awaiting the promised  
Return of the King.  
********************************************

1\. 'Men of the East' as opposed to the Dunedain, Men of  
West.

2\. Laiquin is a dark green metal created by Goldomir,  
son of Enerdhil. (Fanon!)

3\. The Three Prayers were: The Erukyermie, spoken on  
the first day of spring, asking the blessings of the  
Father on the year to come. The Erulaitale, said in  
midsummer, offering Him praise. And the Eruhantale,  
made at the end of autumn, giving Him thanks for his  
goodness to Men. (Canon!)

The Three Prayers are not in Quenya but an ancient  
Adunaic dialect, indicating the great age of these  
observances and their purely Mortal origins. (Fanon)

4\. The King is intermediary only in the sense he  
represents his people by saying the Prayers on their  
behalf. He does not pretend to speak for Eru, or to be  
closer to Him than any other Man. (Assumed from Canon)


	4. A History of the Haven of Lond Daer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reconstruction of the history of the Northern Kingdom. Warning! speculation, fanon and some out and out AU.

  
The first foundations for Lond Daer were laid at  
the mouth of the Gwathlo by Tar-Aldarion (r. 883-1075)  
but remained unfinished, and were allowed to fall into  
ruin by his daughter Tar-Ancalime.

It was her son, Tar-Anarion, (r. 1280-1394) who  
completed the work begun by his his grandfather, and  
Lond Daer became both a shipyard and a timber port  
exporting wood from the vast forests of Minhiriath and  
Enedwaith to Numenor.

But by S.A. 1700 those forests had all but  
disappeared and the Haven was in decline until Admiral  
Ciryatur used it to land a portion of the great  
armament sent by Tar-Minastir (r. 1731-1869) to the  
war against Sauron.

After the war Lond Daer was enlarged by  
Tar-Minastir's successor, Tar-Ciryatan (r. 1869-2029),  
and became rich as a center for trade with the Dwarves  
of Moria. The city was magnificently rebuilt between  
2155 and 2190, by Tar-Atanamir the Great  
(r.2029-2221).

The harbor entrance was guarded by twin lighthouses,  
six sided shafts of polished black basalt two hundred  
feet high, topped by great lanterns of crystal and  
steel that glittered like jewels by day and shed  
silvery radiance on sea and harbor by night.

Tar-Atanmir's gleaming city of basalt and onyx  
marble rose above the dark quays lining both shores of  
the Gwathlo mouth. Warehouses and counting houses with  
the names of the merchants who owned them inscribed in  
gold above their doors gave way to tall houses with  
many windows, domed roofs and sleander towers, all  
decorated with flutings, scrolls and arabesques inlaid  
with precious metals and stones. Grand avenues and  
squares were lined with colonnades of massive black  
pillars, delicately twined with carven flowers and vines,  
fronting rich shops, guildhalls and market halls.  
Walled gardens and parks were filled with exotic  
plants, birds and beasts brought from distant Lands.  
And both parks and squares were adorned with statues  
of marble and bronze.

The grey waters of the Gwathlo divided the city in  
two, linked by three long, many arched bridges. The  
great black citadel of Lond Daer stood in the eastern  
quarter with its massive walls, domed great hall and  
lofty tower but the palace of the governor rose on a  
hill above the western quarter with its cluster of  
onyx domes and elaborate gardens terraced down to the  
riverbank.

A low wall of gleaming basalt surrounded the city  
pierced by seven gates of galvorn and gold set with  
many jewels. Four of the gates were on the western  
side of the river and three on the eastern, and each  
had a keystone carved in the likeness of Tar-Atanamir  
with stones of adamant for eyes and a golden crown.

The Governor of Lond Daer was a King's Man, as were  
most of the merchants who dwelt there, but after the  
Downfall the city accepted Tar-Vardamire as Queen and  
was incorporated into the High Kingdom of Arnor as a  
free city subject only to the High King, and later the  
King of Cardolan.

The port continued to prosper and became known as  
Bel Enedhlond, the Great Middle Port, as it stood  
between Pelagir on the Anduin and Ost-en-Dunhirion on  
the Gulf of Lune. But Daer Lond was hard hit by the  
great plague of TA 1636-37.

For though the Dunedain of the North, (unlike their  
kin in Gondor) proved resistant the Men of Minhiriath,  
who farmed the land around the city and supplied it  
with food, died in great numbers and many of the  
survivors fled north where the infection was less  
severe. Trade with the Southern Kingdom dwindled after  
the plague and much of the traffic with Moria now  
passed through Tharbad on the upper Gwathlo. Yet the  
city struggled on, dispite a steady loss of Men to the  
Witch Wars, until Aranarth took his people into hiding  
in TA 1976.

Dunlending raiders looted the abandoned Haven,  
prying the precious metal and jewels from its walls,  
smashing or carrying off statues, defacing carved  
reliefs, killing the strang beasts and birds and  
uprooting and burning the exotic plants and flowers.  
Then the remains were left to fall quietly into ruin  
for the next thousand years.

Rebuilt by Elessar I Telcontar Lond Daer once again  
became a great Haven and center of trade in the days  
of the Reunited Kingdom, and the seat of the Lords of  
Enedwaith and the Admirals of the Middle Seas.


	5. A History of Ost-en-Dunhirion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reconstruction of the history of the Northern Kingdom. Warning! speculation, fanon and some out and out AU.

Ost-en-Dunhirion, (Citadel of the Lords of the  
West) was begun by Tar-Ciryatan while he was still but  
the King's Heir and completed after he took the  
Scepter. Intended both as a port for trade with the  
Elves of Lindon and the Men of Arthedain, and as a  
seat for the Kings of Men in Middle Earth.

The city stood on the green plain beneath the Tower  
Hills linked to the Gulf of Lune by a massive canal,  
eight leagues long, deep enough for the great seagoing  
galleys of Numenor, and wide enough for two to pass  
each other with room to spare. And lined for its  
entire length with fair white villas and their gardens  
and parklands.

The entrance to the canal was guarded by twin statues of Tar-Ciryatan, one hundred and fifty feet high, of white marble their helms, breastplates and swords overlaid with mithril and gold. And just within it was  
a Hallow dedicated to the Lords of the Sea; a deep blue pool of seawater with three tall pillars set  
in its midst. The tallest of these, of grey stone,  
represented Ulmo and the other two, shorter and of  
blue-green stone, Osse and Uinen. Here mariners would  
stop when setting out to ask the blessing of the Lords  
upon their ship. And on returning to give thanks for a  
safe voyage.

The walls of Ost-en-Dunhirion were high and built  
of shining white stone pierced by ten great steel  
gates each flanked by a pair of tall towers. The canal  
entered the city under a gigantic arch carved with two  
White Trees and the Seven and One Stars of the Kings  
of the West.

Inside the canal formed a great ring of water lined on  
both banks with warfs and warehouses, counting houses,  
inns, shipyards, and shipwrights' shops. Ten great bridges arched high over the ring of water, high enough for a ship in full sail to pass beneath.

Behind the warfs and counting houses of the first ring were the guild halls of the merchants and artisans of the city, and their homes, all built of white stone on either side of the broad, tree lined main avenue or on side streets and lanes, interspersed with small gardens, public parks and market squares.

Water flowed through a tunnel beneath the first circle  
of the city to form a moat, somewhat less broad and deep than the harbor, spanned by six many arched bridges, with houses built upon them, leading to the second ring of the city. Here were the tall white mansions of the nobles, with their sleander towers and silver domes, set admidst wide gardens with galleries and pavillions and theaters for music and story.

A third moat ringed the the citadel at the heart of the city, joined to the second ring by two bridges, each with a gatehouse at either end. Its walls were white and its gates of gold, and terraces of gardens and groves, halls and guest houses, armories and treasuries, rose above the walls to the great gold domed palace with its soaring golden spired towers.

Because of its nearness to Lindon Ost-en-Dunhirion  
became a favorite refuge for 'Faithful' fleeing  
persecution in Numenor. They settled the lands between  
the Blue Mountains and the Brandywine, which became  
known as Dor-en-Dunhirion, (Land of the Lords of the  
West) and on the eastern bank of the river Lune.

The colonists traded and intermarried with the  
people of Arthedain, descended like themselves from  
the Edain of Old, and were ruled by a governor of  
their own choosing. At the time of the Downfall this  
was Vorondil, a kinsman of Elendil of Andunie and  
husband of his only daughter Elemmire.

Vorondil and his heirs were named Princes of  
Dunhirion by Tar-Vardamire. And, after Elendil and  
Isildur fell, Elemmire ruled the the High Kingdom as  
regent during the minority of her nephew Valandil.

Her descendants, the Elemmirioni, held the offices  
of Steward of the Realm and Constable of Annuminas  
through all the centuries the Kings ruled the North.  
They were also Lord Admirals of the Northern Seas and  
from their Haven of Ost-en-Dunhirion ships sailed to  
explore the Bent Seas after the Downfall.

They found wide, unpeopled lands in the new West  
full of strange fruits and plants which they brought  
back to Middle Earth, (including Galenas, the pipeweed  
of the Hobbits, potatoes, tomatoes, corn and other  
crops from the Lands of the Sun).

The mariners of Arnor found also the last remnant  
of Numenor, the mountaintop of Meneltarma and its  
Hallow to Eru still above the sea. And here at times  
Dunedain of the North would come to mourn and ask the  
mercy of Eru for the Downfallen. Yet it was a curious  
thing that ships from Gondor, though they searched the  
southern seas, never found the Holy Isle or landed  
upon it.

And it was said in the North that this was because  
the Exiles of Gondor still yearned for life eternal  
within Arda and longed to gaze upon the Deathless  
Lands of the West, and only those whose hearts were  
bent wholly on Eru and desired to join him beyond the  
Circles of the World could come to the greatest of his  
Hallows.

When Aranarth commanded the Dunedain to 'disappear'  
the Princes abandoned their city and moved northward  
to become Wardens of the Evendim Hills. The last of  
the Elemmirioni was Ellemir, grandmother of Aragorn  
Elessar, in whom was joined the the three lines of  
descent from Elendil.

The city itself, tended by the Elves of the Havens,  
did not fall into ruin but waited patiently for the  
Return of the King. After the restoration of the the  
Reunited Kingdom it was repeopled and became again an  
important Haven and the seat of the Admiral of the  
North. And the ancient domains of Dunhirion and the  
Evendim Hills became holdings of the Crown, and Prince  
of Dunhirion was the title of the King's Heir in the  
North.  



End file.
